In a typical furnace having a horizontally disposed drum-type combustion chamber with a plurality of heat exchange tubes disposed thereon, the heat exchange tubes are commonly disposed evenly across the end of the combustion chamber drum. For example, the disposition of heat exchanger tubes in a two-tube heat exchanger consists of a disposition with the center line of the tubes corresponding with the horizontal center line of the combustion chamber drum. In a typical heat exchanger tube arrangement with more than two tubes, the tubes will be evenly disposed with an equal number of heat exchange tubes above the horizontal center line and below the horizontal center line.
In efforts to increase the operating efficiency and fuel utilization of the heat exchanger in furnaces, it is common to find designs utilizing tubes of different number, diameter and disposition. However, these designs attempt to achieve a maximum efficiency at the expense of simplicity in design of the heat exchanger, resulting in increased difficulty and expense in manufacture and maintenance.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a heat exchanger tube arrangement which provides an increased efficiency in operation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a simple and cost effective heat exchange tube arrangement.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an increased heat transfer ability in the heat exchanger of a furnace while providing the foregoing benefits.
These and other object of the invention will be apparent from the attached drawings and the Description of the Preferred Embodiment that follows hereinbelow.